John Boehner: Like Obama, George W. Bush Didn't Care About Securing The Border

18 Aug 2014

President Barack Obama is not serious about securing the border, but neither was former President George W. Bush, according to House Speaker John Boehner.

“No, no. That’s the issue.” Boehner said when asked in an interview with North Dakota radio host Scott Hennen if Obama would like to secure the border.

“We can pass all the laws we want, but until we have an administration committed to securing the border, it won’t happen,” he continued in the Friday interview.

The House Speaker continued, noting that Obama’s predecessor also was not focused on border security.

“George W. Bush, one of my close friends, I think the world of him, but he wasn’t committed to securing the border and neither is President Obama. We’ve tried and tried and tried, but he just won’t go there.”

The House Speaker reiterated his desire for immigration reform — including addressing the millions of illegal immigrants in the country already — but stressed that securing the border should be first on the agenda.

“I’m committed to having immigration reform. We have a broken immigration system. Broken in hundreds of different ways. It all needs to be fixed,” he said. “Then we’ve got a problem with those who are here without documents, 40 percent of whom came here legally, whether they were students or came here to visit and never quite went home, we need to address this. But if we don’t secure the border there is really no way to fix this system in a rational way.”

Boehner also criticized Obama’s leadership abilities in his interview with Hennen.

“While the president thinks giving a speech is leadership, it really isn’t,” he said, going on to add that a lot of the current crises around the world are a result of Obama’s “apology tour” early in his presidency.

“When he went to Europe and he went to the Middle East and apologized for American leadership and apologized for America being strong,” Boehner told Hennen. “And look at the result. When America leads and America is strong, the world is a much safer place.”

As for the reason Obama is not leading, Boehner said, “He’s really just not prepared for the the job.”